I seriously have no excuses for why this is like months later, but I promise you, come hell or high water, I will finish this fic. In any case, I'll definitely be deviating from canon in this story. Thank you for sticking with me! This chapter is pretty short, but the party at Tina's should be fun and longer!

When Rachel left, Finn cried for a lot longer than he thought he would. It wasn't just about losing Rachel – the circumstances under which it happened were the worst part. The fact that they would have broken up anyway but he still had to live with the guilt of hurting her was one of the most terrible feelings he'd ever had. He cried because he'd lied to her and Kurt, because he didn't know if he wanted to actually go to Pace, because his father was still so mysterious and he had no idea where to even begin to make things make sense.

Before he could register he was doing it, he'd picked up his phone and was calling probably the last person he should be talking to.

"Hello?"

"Can you come over?"

"Finn? Are you okay? H-have you been crying?"

"Can you come over?" he repeated.

"I'm on my way."

"Thanks, Tina."

Tina drove quickly to the Hummel-Hudson house and nearly ran to the door. She hadn't even knocked three times before Finn opened it with red-rimmed eyes and pulled her into a hug. She froze for a moment, taken aback by how forceful he was, but realized that he had gone sort of limp around her, as though he had no more energy.

She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close, resting her head against his chest and breathing deeply. When they finally pulled apart, Finn simply took her wrist gently in his hand and led her inside. She followed him in to the living room and gingerly sat on the couch next to the armchair where he'd settled.

"What's going on, Finn?"

He sighed and pulled a folded letter out of his sweater pocket, tossing it to Tina. Her heart already breaking, she pulled the paper out of the envelope, but she couldn't bring herself to look at it.

"Th-there has to be other options. Just because you didn't get in-," she spoke quickly, but stopped after Finn looked at her with a frown.

"Just read it," he said with what sounded like annoyance. Tina nodded and looked down to read it completely.

Accepted.

"I thought-,"

"You thought I'd get rejected?" Finn's words came out sharply and Tina looked up in surprise. He was almost glaring now, and she realized that he'd thought she'd assumed he would fail to get into Pace without even reading the letter.

"No, Finn, that's not what I meant-,"

"Then what did you mean?"

Tina took a breath. "Earlier, I followed Rachel to the classroom where you ad Kurt were," she said and understanding quickly dawned on his face. "I saw you shake your head at Rachel."

"Oh," Finn said a bit densely. "Sorry for getting mad."

"It's okay," she replied before she put the conversation together in her head. "Why did you lie to them?"

Finn looked down and then put his head in his hands. "I couldn't do that to Kurt. Not after he'd just been rejected."

"You have to tell him some time."

"Not if I decide not to go."

Tina tilted her head at him with confusion. "What? Pace is a great school, why wouldn't you-,"

"I'm not ready for it!" Finn stood up and Tina flinched a little at the sudden movement. "I don't know what I'm doing! I don't know how I got in!" He paced the floor and pulled at his hair. "I don't have Rachel anymore and I don't know anyone in New York. I don't know the first thing about acting."

"Which means you're naturally talented, Finn. It means that with training, you'll be even better."

"What if I was a fluke?" He said it in a whisper, as though he was afraid that hearing it would make it true. "What if there was a mistake and they thought I was someone else and there's some smart actor out there who thinks he was rejected?"

Tina stood up and stopped Finn's pacing. She put a finger to his lips. "Stop it, Finn. Colleges don't make mistakes like that. They liked you and that's it, okay? They saw how extraordinary you are and they wanted you, Finn Hudson, at that school."

Finn was quiet and just stared at her. She stared back and she knew what was going to happen before he even began to lean down to her.

Which meant that she could stop it this time.

She put her hand on his chest and gently pushed him back.

"I'm still with Mike," she whispered, and his eyes got wide. He backed away and held his hands up.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry-,"

"Finn, calm down,"

"I'm just ruining your life-,"

"Stop!" she cried, and Finn froze. "Stop saying things like that. I made my own mistakes and my own decisions. So did you. We're not kids anymore, Finn. We do stupid things and I'm sure we're going to do more stupid things in the future. We just have to deal with those things when they happen."

He pulled her into another tight hug and this time, she hugged him back even tighter. They were so lost in their own world that they didn't hear a car pull into the driveway and someone bound up the stairs.

The door opened and a voice yelled, "Hey, Finn, it's me! Kurt sent me to—oh."

Tina and Finn jumped apart and stared like deer in headlights at a very confused looking Blaine, who stood in the entrance of the living room.

They all froze for what felt like hours, but then Tina came to her senses and ran out of the house. She shut the door behind her and leaned against it, releasing the breath she hadn't realized she had been holding. Of all of the people to see that, did it have to be Blaine Anderson?

Blaine and Finn stared at each other a moment after Tina ran out, then Finn rushed to explain.

"We weren't doing anything," he said. "I asked her to come over and talk to me after I got my letter from Pace and after Rachel broke up with me."

Blaine's eyes widened. "Rachel broke up with you? You got your letter from Pace? You called Tina to talk to?" He shook his head as though to clear it and continued before Finn could answer any of his questions. "Why not Kurt or Puck?"

Finn honestly didn't have an answer. Well, he did, but that would require explaining what happened with Tina, because that was definitely one of the problems. He'd called her because she would understand that.

"Tina and I are old friends. I knew she wouldn't judge me for anything I might have done wrong."

"What could you have done wrong?" Finn didn't answer, so Blaine continued. "Finn, you can talk to me. I can keep a secret."

Finn scoffed. "From Kurt?"

Blaine hesitated. "If I need to, I can. If he doesn't need to know, I won't tell him." He paused, and then added. "I want to be your friend, Finn. I know we might have had our differences in the past, but if this is tearing you up, then I think you should talk to someone who isn't as deeply invested as anyone else in the Glee Club. Not that I don't care," he amended quickly. "I just don't have the connection that the rest of you guys have yet."

He had a point. Everyone else would take a side; he knew they would. Well, except maybe Tina, if she wasn't one of the core players in this whole debacle. He gestured for them to sit down and they did, Finn in the armchair he'd been in before and Blaine in Tina's spot on the couch. Finn nodded and took a deep breath, praying that Blaine would keep this to himself. "I cheated on Rachel and got into Pace, but I didn't tell anyone except Tina. I mean, I told Rachel I cheated on her, but I didn't tell anyone but Tina that I got into Pace."

Blaine's eyebrows were high and his mouth was parted slightly in surprise. "You cheated on Rachel?" Finn nodded and the smaller boy seemed to ponder something for a moment. "It was with Tina, wasn't it?"

"What?" Finn said, his voice almost squeaky and his whole body tensing.

"That day she blew up in Glee Club and you followed her; it was then, wasn't it?"

"Where are you getting this from?"

"You both acted super-weird after that and now you call her when you're all broken up about it? You called her because she was the only one who understands what you're going through and that's because she's the one you did it with."

"We didn't do…it!" Finn hissed.

"I just meant the cheating. Sorry, I could have phrased that better. What did you two do, anyway?"

"We just kissed," he paused. "A few times," he admitted.

"Did you kiss in Chicago, too?"

"Okay, dude, are you psychic or something? Because you're starting to freak me out."

"You two disappeared during rehearsal that day, and you came in a few minutes apart. There's only so much you can do in a hotel hallway."

"So you've known this whole time?"

"Oh, of course not," Blaine looked way too happy about putting it all together. "I didn't put it together until you said you cheated on Rachel. Now it all makes sense." He was practically beaming and Finn had the urge to smack him.

"Well then… yes, it was with Tina. But it's not going to happen again. She loves Mike and that's the end of it."

"And you love…?"

"What?"

"Well, you make it seem like the reason you two can't be together is because Tina doesn't love you, not that you don't love each other. Do you love her?"

"Of course I love her. We've been friends for years."

"You know what I mean," Blaine said with a judgmental look that Finn was used to getting from Kurt. They really were made for each other.

"Well, even if I did, it wouldn't matter."

Blaine seemed to realize that Finn wasn't going to talk about anymore, so he switched subjects. "So what are you going to do about Pace?" Finn sighed.

"I have no idea."

"You should go," Blaine said encouragingly. "You're a good actor."

Finn eyed him dubiously. "You've never seen me act."

"Sure I have!" Blaine answered brightly. "You act when you perform all the time. You're like a totally different person. And I've seen videos of when you guys did Rocky Horror."

"Someone recorded that?" Finn asked, horrified.

"Yep! Kurt did. You were great as Brad, Finn. A natural." He looked down at his watch and gasped. "Crap! I was supposed to pick up Kurt's laptop and take it to the school. He's probably so mad." He stood up and jogged out of the room and down to the basement. When he came back up, he was about to leave when he noticed that Finn was still in the living room, not having moved an inch.

He smiled sadly and walked over to him, tugging him up and pulling him into a hug. Finn stiffened at first, surprised by the gesture, but he eventually returned it. He sure was hugging a lot today.

"Everything is going to work out, Finn. But you're going to have to be honest with your mom and Kurt eventually, you know that right?" Finn nodded. "Call me if you need anyone to talk to, okay? Don't hold it all in. It'll make it worse." He sounded so knowing that Finn wondered if maybe there were things about Blaine that he didn't know.

"Thanks a lot, Blaine. You really helped." The smaller boy beamed and Finn made a mental note to do something nice for him in the future. Maybe he could try to stay awake through Moulin Rouge or something.

The look in Mike's eyes was enough for Tina to wish she had never even met Finn Hudson. She would do anything to never have to see Mike look so broken ever again.

"Tina I…I don't understand. I don't know what I did wrong," his voice broke on the last word.

"Mike, it wasn't you, I swear it wasn't you. I made a mistake and I'm begging you to forgive me."

They were sitting across from each other at opposite ends of Mike's bed. Tina had been there a million times before, but she had never felt so far away from him.

"What did you do with him? Who was it?"

Tears burned her eyes and she ran a hand through her hair before answering, "It was Finn. I kissed Finn."

She made herself look at Mike and barely noticed the tears finally spill over as he sat rigid with shock. He was looking at her like she wasn't even the same person anymore, and in a way, he was right.

"I'm so sorry, Mike; you have to believe how sorry I am. I know it doesn't change anything, but I need you to know how much I hate myself for hurting you."

Then the worst thing happened: he began to cry.

"Tina…I honestly don't know what to do. I don't know what I'm supposed to do."

"I won't blame you if you never want to speak to me again."

"I don't want to do that," he said quickly, and she looked up with hope. "I want us to be friends no matter what happens. But I've honestly never felt so hurt in my entire life." She looked down with shame.

"I think this is a sign," he said. "I think that this is just proving that we should split up."

"Mike, I don't-,"

"No, Tina, listen. I'm leaving soon and I'm going to Chicago. You're going to graduate and I know you're going to go to New York." She opened her mouth to protest, but he cut her off by lifting his hand. "Don't deny it. I know you have your heart set on New York. I knew it the moment we set foot in that city."

"Mike, I would have at least tried to find a school in Chicago."

He was quiet and Tina was afraid she said something wrong. "What? What did I say?"

Mike looked at her with a sad smile. "You said 'tried'. Past tense."

"Oh."

He nodded, the smile turning into a grimace. "You see? We might love each other, but neither of us is going to be able to do this. I didn't want to and I tried to convince myself that we could handle it, but we've been fighting more and more and now there's this."

"I don't want to break up, Mike," Tina said before crawling to him on the bed and letting herself fall into his open arms.

"Neither do I. But it's better we do it this way. I think we both checked out of this relationship a while ago and I don't want either of us to be an obligation to the other," he said into her hair, his voice muffled and distorted because they were both shaking slightly with their tears.

The sat like that for a long time, just holding each other and crying, both of them wishing that they could make any of this make sense.

Tina woke up nestled against Mike's body. They were half-sitting, leaning against the headboard with their arms tangled loosely together. It took a second before she remembered what had happened before they'd dozed off, and when she did, it was like a punch in the stomach.

"Mike," she said, rubbing his shoulder and then his cheek to try and wake him up gently. "Mike, wake up,"

"Wha-?" he grumbled before opening his eyes and suddenly looking very sad.

"I'm going to go home now," said Tina. Mike just nodded and looked away from her to stare at the wall. She opened her mouth to say something more, but decided against it. She nodded to herself sadly and stood up to leave.

"Sam said something about a New Directions sleepover at your house tomorrow."

Tina turned around and nodded. "Yeah, we were just going to invite everyone to hang out and if they want to stay, they can. My parents are out for a while."

"Am I invited?"

Tina smiled. "Well, you're in Glee Club aren't you?"

Mike gave her a sleepy grin. "Then in that case, I can't wait."